Teaching & Learning

A. Teaching at Island School promotes student inquiry and the development of critical thinking skills.

i. Teachers foster a climate where students respond well to the challenges of open ended learning.

ii. Across the curriculum lessons provide many opportunities for using imagination and solving problems. Pursuing purposes and originality is encouraged and rewarded.

B. Teaching at Island School allows students to become actively responsible for their own learning.

i. Island School offers students a rich variety of lesson activities with good opportunities for creativity and independent learning.

ii. To enable independent learning to happen, effective learning is modelled from the outset in lessons. This creates the opportunity for students to succeed and to be creative at the same time.

iii. Students show that they understand what they are learning and why. They have a clear understanding of the standard of learning outcomes expected and can monitor their own progress towards learning objectives.

iv. Homework is used effectively to reinforce and extend what is learned in school. It is challenging, has clear learning objectives and is designed to develop independence.

v. The school’s assessment policy promotes learning autonomy through its detailed approach to formative assessment. This policy is adhered to across the school.

vi. Through each year, in curriculum plans of subjects, there is planning for more independence and opportunities for more open briefs for students.

vii. Students are able to reflect on how well they have learned, how to learn effectively and understand how they learn best.

viii. Students have a deep understanding of the nature of high quality work across all subjects.

C. Teaching at the school engages students as critical thinkers with developing views of their own.

i. Developmental questioning is used to take students’ partial answers and encourage them to develop their thinking further. Systematic and carefully planned questioning is used to increase expectations of targeted students.

ii. Students are encouraged to understand, and pushed to achieve, the higher order skills of analysis and evaluation.

iii. Appropriate questioning techniques are used to challenge quicker and/or more able learners to deepen their understanding.

A. Teaching at the school uses a range and balance of teaching strategies to meet the objectives of the programme.

i. Teaching uses a variety of well selected approaches, strategies and techniques that provide well paced, engaging and challenging lessons which support open mindedness.

ii. Students make progress because they are engaged in their learning.

iii. Challenging and well pitched questioning is used to prompt deeper understanding and effective cognitive development.

iv. The well planned use of collaborative group work extends and deepens understanding by engaging students in sharing ideas and learning through speaking and listening.

v. Teachers engage students with humour, challenge, visual and sound stimulus, mystery or participative activities at the start of lessons.

vi. Thinking time and collaborative work helps support the thinking through of responses to challenging questions.

vii. Progress through a lesson is constructed well and lesson variety is such that focus and engagement is maintained throughout.

B. Teaching and Learning at Island School addresses the needs of students who have reached different stages in their development and those who have different learning styles.

i. All student contributions are valued and diversity of approach to learning is encouraged.

ii. In lessons the range of activities offered caters for the different intelligences of students within the class.

iii. Teachers are supportive, caring and create a climate conducive to asking questions. They treat students as individuals and as a result students have a very positive attitude to learning.

iv. Students are sometimes grouped intentionally either in similar ability groups or in mixed ability groups thus allowing differentiated tasks to be set to enhance challenge and learning for all.

v. Learning objectives are made clear and are differentiated to take account of different rates of progress and preferred learning styles.

vi. Lessons are phased to cater for different styles of learner, different participatory structures and are planned to promote an environment conducive to extended work.

vii. At times students are offered a choice of pathways at appropriate levels with which to approach learning.

C. Teaching and Learning at Island School builds on what students know and can do.

See “Assessment at Island School"

i. Lessons are carefully structured series of activities that are matched sensitively to learners’ needs.

ii. Starts of lessons relate learning to the wider context of a unit, what they have learned before and how it relates to future learning and the wider world.

iii. Students are routinely involved in reviewing previous learning.

iv. Students take on board new learning and are prepared to ask and answer pertinent questions.

v. The capacity of students is built on through encouragement and by creating a climate of participation.

vi. At times learning is reviewed throughout the lesson in relation to learning objectives in order to establish what learners know, understand and/or can do.

D. The school promotes concurrency of learning for each student.

 i. Tutoring for Learning actively links the pastoral with the more academic curriculum and helps tutors to have a holistic overview of student progress.

ii. The curriculum provides a rich, broad and balanced educational experience. Curriculum pathways provide experiences that complement each other and are educationally coherent.

iii. Every student’s needs are met on an individual basis and staff work across curriculum / house to ensure that students strive to reach their potential.

A. The school provides students with opportunities for learning about issues that have local, national and global significance, leading to an understanding of human commonalities.

i. Teaching includes localized learning contexts to allow students to draw from their own experiences. As a contrast a range of international examples are used when appropriate to encourage international-mindedness.

ii. Departments consider appropriate international and cultural contexts in which to set lessons in order to build on the students’ own experiences.

B. The school values and makes productive use of the diversity of cultures and perspectives that exist in the school and in the local, national and global communities to enhance learning.

i. The school operates a very wide ranging co-curricular programme where students are engaged in a range of sporting, creative and service based activities within the local Hong Kong community and overseas in China, South East Asia and beyond.

ii. Lessons allow students to draw on their own cultural experiences and share them with the rest of the class, thereby promoting intercultural awareness.

iii. Teaching provides many opportunities to support students in understanding their own cultural roots.

C. The school encourages learning that fosters responsible citizenship and international mindedness.

i. At times and when appropriate teaching includes the study of thinking, ideas, issues, history and culture from different parts of the world to engage students in thinking globally.

D. The school encourages student learning that strengthens the student’s own cultural identity, and celebrates and fosters understanding of different cultures.

 i. Teachers use ‘international resources’ and the cultural response of different students to allow for the development of intercultural awareness.

A. Teaching at Island School meets the needs of students whose first language is not the language of instruction.

i. At times in lessons students are actively encouraged to write, talk and think in their first language when facing more challenging tasks, concepts and ideas.

ii. Varied approaches to Teaching and Learning, especially that including student talk, support the progress of EAL learners.

iii. There is a planned approach to teaching literacy skills in all subjects and students are encouraged to use English freely and creatively in a range of communicative situations.

iv. At times students are supported in class by resources in their first language.

v. Planning and teaching takes account of students’ individual language profile, level and needs.

Please see section 2. Matching Teaching and Learning to individual needs

A. Teaching and Learning at Island School is supported by a range of appropriate resources, including ICT.

i. ICT is used well; it is an integral part of lessons at times and engages students and enhances their learning experience.

ii. At times the use of interactive white boards (and other digital media) ensures that students are motivated and engaged throughout lessons and allow for a variety of learning styles to be met.

iii. Many teaching materials and other facilities are made available on the Connected Learning Community and directly support out of lesson learning. Students appreciate this and make full use of them.